---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Public Procurement Act; architectural and professional engineering term contracts."
description: "Virginia Public Procurement Act; architecturaland professional engineering term contracts; limitations on projectfees; localities. Decreases the population threshold from 78,000to 50,000 for a locality to qualify for the exceptions from (i) the $150,000 single-project fee limit for architectural and professional engineering term contracts and (ii) the $750,000 annual aggregatetotal limit for all such projects."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 368"
citation: "Virginia SB 368 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John J. Bell"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-06"
last_action: "2020-04-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4cead85e-bcd8-48c3-a6cb-9a71e62f4858"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB368"
source_hash: "3a1775df8451ee707383a7961aff4b089d1ba4a97160a9ad2e09f172c6e8cafe"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 368 (2020) — Virginia Public Procurement Act; architectural and professional engineering term contracts.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; architecturaland professional engineering term contracts; limitations on projectfees; localities. Decreases the population threshold from 78,000to 50,000 for a locality to qualify for the exceptions from (i) the $150,000 single-project fee limit for architectural and professional engineering term contracts and (ii) the $750,000 annual aggregatetotal limit for all such projects.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0618)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0618)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB368ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB368ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB368)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB368)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology (13-Y 0-N 1-A) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 1-N) — **39–1** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- John J. Bell — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20103623D `introduction`
- **2020-01-06** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-14** Impact statement from DPB (SB368)
- **2020-01-15** Reported from General Laws and Technology (13-Y 0-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-20** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-21** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 1-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-18** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-18** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-18** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-21** Assigned GL sub: Open Government/Procurement `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-25** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-27** Reported from General Laws (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-03-02** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-03** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-03** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-03** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-06** Enrolled
- **2020-03-06** Impact statement from DPB (SB368ER)
- **2020-03-07** Signed by President
- **2020-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 618 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4cead85e-bcd8-48c3-a6cb-9a71e62f4858`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).